Follow the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross Championship with direct updates from tonight’s round of the season at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa through Racefeed.

Image: Octopi Media.

250SX qualifying one:
When the session began, Hunter Lawrence (Team Honda HRC) darted away from the field, immediately turning in a 51.090s lap. His early position atop the leaderboard would last until the checkered flag, with a 49.708s time being the first under 50s of the day. Backing up his qualifying speed from the 250SX East season opener a week ago in Houston, Max Anstie (Fire Power Honda) was 0.74s off Lawrence’s pace to place second. A trio of Yamaha YZ250F machines from Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing and Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha completed the top five, ridden by Jordon Smith, Nate Thrasher, and Jeremy Martin. The lone TLD Red Bull GasGas representative Michael Mosiman landed sixth, 1.584s off Lawrence’s chart-topping pace. Rookies Chance Hymas (Team Honda HRC), Haiden Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), and Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM), plus Hardy Munoz comprised the remainder of the top 10. Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki fill-in Chris Blose was 13th.

450SX qualifying one:
Immediately following Lawrence’s success in the first timed session for the 250 division, Team Honda HRC also led the first 450SX qualifying with Chase Sexton and a 48.771s lap time. Adam Cianciarulo and Jason Anderson of Monster Energy Kawasaki were quick enough for second and third with nearly identical best lap times around the Tampa track. Cooper Webb (Red Bull KTM) and Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) completed the top five ahead of Christian Craig (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Joey Savatgy (Rick Ware Racing), Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM), Justin Cooper (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing), and Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) in the top 10. Notably, Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki rider Ken Roczen was only quick enough for 13th, 2.636s off the session-leading speed of his former Honda teammate.

250SX qualifying two:
Despite a fall in the first turn in the early moments of the second 250 qualifying outing, Lawrence remained atop the 250 category in Tampa by improving his lap time from the first session by 0.328s. With Smith only able to produce a 50.081s lap compared to Lawrence’s 49.380s, the Australian points leader was the only 250 rider to dip under the 50s range and the fastest heading into the night show by seven-tenths of a second. After Smith, Houston qualifying leader Anstie was third, with Thrasher and Hymas taking the two other positions in the top five. Mosiman was again sixth in the second session, leading Martin, Vialle, Cullin Park (Phoenix Racing Honda), and Blose in filling the top 10. Deegan was next in 11th, 2.665s off Lawrence’s class-leading pace.

450SX qualifying two:
Sexton ensured a perfect qualifying day for Honda in both classes with a 48.555s lap in the final timed outing entering the night show. With competitive speed throughout the session, Anderson earned the second qualifying position, just 0.044s off Sexton in Q2. Tomac qualified third ahead of Anderson’s Kawasaki stablemate Cianciarulo and his teammate Cooper. Improving significantly upon his earlier qualifying time, Roczen earned the sixth position, with Webb, Craig, Plessinger, and Dean Wilson (Fire Power Honda) the other riders in the top 10. Savatgy avoided injury in a crash but bent the handlebars on his privateer Kawasaki KX450SR, sending him back to the truck early and relegating him to the bottom of the qualifying timesheet.

250SX heat one:
Thrasher’s night got off to a very successful start as he built a lead of over 8s en route to his career’s first heat race victory. With a late pass on rookie Vialle, Smith took second, ultimately finishing 7.014s back from his Star Yamaha teammate. Vialle settled for third ahead of Michael Hicks, Mosiman, Coty Schock (Phoenix Racing Honda), Luca Marsalisi, Josiah Natzke, and Blose, who all transferred directly to the main event. Brock Papi, Marshal Weltin, Luke Neese, Jack Chambers, and Park notably missed out and will look ahead to the LCQ.

250SX heat two:
In just the second heat race of his Supercross career, Deegan led every lap and secured the victory by a margin of 2.924s over rookie rival Hymas. Martin held second early aboard his ClubMX Yamaha but ended up third after a strong pass by Honda man Hymas. The fastest qualifier Lawrence charged up to fourth after being outside the top nine in the early going, with Anstie, Jace Owen (Phoenix Racing Honda), Henry Miller (Ti-Lube Storm Lake Honda), Talon Hawkins (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), and Munoz also punching their tickets to the main. Caden Braswell (Phoenix Racing Honda) and AJ Catanzaro were notable misses, finishing 10th and 13th.

450SX heat one:
Anderson made an early pass on his Kawasaki teammate Cianciarulo and beat him to the checkered flag by 3s to win the first 450 race of the night in Tampa. Craig earned a solid third, with Benny Bloss, Wilson, Shane McElrath (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance), Cooper, Justin Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports), and Kyle Chisholm (Twisted Tea Suzuki Progressive Insurance) making it through to the main. Fredrik Noren and Joshua Cartwright are notable additions to the LCQ lineup.

450SX heat two:
Sexton assumed the early lead ahead of his title rival Tomac, with Plessinger, Roczen, Barcia, and Savatgy in tow. A fall for Savatgy dropped him out of qualifying position while Webb crawled back from outside a transfer position. Plessinger blitzed past Tomac in the whoops with three minutes still on the clock and Sexton’s lead growing ahead. Plessinger held second, pulling more than 2s out from Tomac but accepting defeat to Sexton by a margin of nearly 8s. Barcia finished fourth after a late pass through the whoops on Roczen. Webb, Nichols, John Short, and Cade Clason (Partzilla PRMX Racing) also transferred, with Clason putting Josh Hill (Team Tedder Monster Energy Mountain Motorsports) on the ground in a last-turn pass for the final transfer position.

250SX LCQ:
Munoz put nearly 6s between his Husqvarna FC 250 and his competitors as he came out on top in the night’s first LCQ. Papi and Neese earned gates for the main event with second and third, while Devin Simonson made a dramatic last-turn pass on Weltin for the final transfer position. A crash in the sand earlier in the race for Jeremy Hand and Chambers took those two out of contention, while Catanzaro also missed out with a late crash.

450SX LCQ:
Savatgy led early aboard his privateer Kawasaki ahead of Kevin Moranz, Grant Harlan, and Josh Hill into the race’s concluding minute. The Rick Ware Racing rider won by nearly 3s. Cole Thompson, Hunter Schlosser, Noren, Cartwright, Joan Cros, and Max Miller filled the rest of the top 10 but fell short of qualifying for the premier class main event.

250SX main event:
Lawrence’s inspired ride saw him recover from a poor start and swipe what appeared to be a sure victory for Thrasher in the final moments. Thrasher led every lap before a stunning charge to the front put Lawrence in position to get to the checkered flag first via a last-turn move. By a mere 0.134s — the closest margin of victory in eight years — Lawrence extended his win streak to two after coming out on top a week ago in the Houston season opener. Thrasher settled for a disappointing second, while Anstie finished third after falling prey to Lawrence’s unmatched speed earlier. Deegan finished fourth for the second consecutive week, while Martin ended up fifth after leading a few moments during the opening lap. Vialle rode to a quiet sixth while Mosiman earned seventh after hitting the ground when Lawrence made contact during a pass near the race’s midway point. Hymas, Owen, and Munoz comprised the remainder of the top 10. Schock, Braswell, and Blose were next in 11th through 13th, while Smith of Star Yamaha finished a disappointing 15th after crashing at the beginning of the race in the sand.

450SX main event:
Constant pressure on race-long leader Sexton paid off for 2021 450SX champion Webb as his KTM assumed the race lead when Sexton crashed in the whoops in the final minutes. Webb jumped past the white flag with a lead of 6s over Sexton, who resumed in second ahead of Plessinger. Webb closed out his first victory since the Salt Lake City finale in 2021 by a margin of 6.169s as Plessinger landed on the podium for the first time in Supercross since the second round of the 2022 season at Oakland. Aboard their Suzuki and Yamaha machines, Roczen and points leader Tomac made it four different manufacturers in the top five, with Tomac nearly 32s back from the win at the end. An early collision and fall with Barcia forced Anderson to charge up to a sixth-place result, boosted by a late-race pass on Cooper. Barcia, Savatgy, and Craig finished eighth through 10th. A fall for Cianciarulo dropped the No. 9 Kawasaki from fourth to an eventual 12th-place result. Leaving Tampa and heading to Oakland, the top three in the 450SX points are covered by just four points, with Tomac two ahead of Sexton and Sexton two ahead of Webb.